My Riffs

Your work matters. No matter the job or task.   It’s either helping someone or yourself, or teaching you something. 

Getting higher is hard work. Getting above the normal. Getting above the things that hold us down.  Climbing is hard but the better views are worth it. 

I really believe that if people put their mind to something, they can accomplish it. The thing to keep in mind though, is, don't succeed in something that doesn't matter. Find something that truly matters, then put your mind to it. Ideally it's at the cross-section of your interests and your skill sets. When your skills meet your interest, that becomes a passion. And with a passion you can put your mind to make anything happen.

Train and rehearse. It’s ego that tells us we don’t need to prepare. It’s ego that makes us think we’re good enough.   Train, prepare, rehearse. And do it again. Get better and constantly improve.  Show up as prepared as possible. Put in the work beforehand. 

The best way to stand out (in a good way) is to do good quality work.  That will stand out as much as anything you can do.  Let your work speak for you as much as possible. 

Teamwork accomplishes far more than a bunch of individuals can accomplish.  That’s not to diminish individual accomplishments. Individuals have changed and shaped the course of history.  But it takes teamwork to move mountains.

People who own their responsibilities do better work.  People who are constantly trying to shirk responsibilities do terrible work.  Own it. Whatever you’re given, own it. Otherwise you’re giving your own influence and power away. 

Laziness is like a seed. You allow it to settle and grow, and soon it will overtake you like a weed.  It’s best to not allow and amount of laziness to settle.  Rest is good. Laziness never is good. 

Show up, be thorough.  Repeat.  You’ll be successful at anything you do following this simple formula. 

Being efficient should be a continuous goal. There's almost always room to be more efficient. In giving and loving people, be liberal. But in your other outputs, trying to find efficiencies. It will leave you with more to give to others.

A Break can fix you.  Not broken break, restful breaks.  At work and you hit a wall? Take a quick walk.  Writers block? Take a quick break.  Can’t solve a problem? Take a quick break.  Losing focus? Take a quick break. 

The hardest time to do good work is when nobody will see it.  But it’s always right to do good work.  So still do good work, even if it’s not noticed or appreciated. Because it’s still the right thing to do. 

Embrace the hard and life will be easier.  Embrace the easy and life will be harder.  

Your best varies from day to day. It even varies season to season. But what matters is that you always give your best. And when you don’t, you get back to giving your best right away. 

If you don’t repair, things will break down beyond repair.  Don’t let things get so damaged you can’t repair them. 

Getting overwhelmed is increasing easy in the modern world. Digital everything has made things faster and more accessible, but also louder. It’s hard to sift through all the noise. We can easily get overloaded and overwhelmed.  Slow down. Prioritize.  Silence the noise. Use silencing and do not disturb features. Uninstall apps. Unfollow. Turn off notifications.  Prioritize once you’ve slowed down. 

Every day improve something. No matter how small. Don't waste a single day without making some type of improvement. On yourself, on your environment or in something you're involved in. Steady, small improvments over time lead to huge improvements.

Is the things we avoid that bites us.  We avoid the hard work, the hard task or the difficult conversations. And it will eventually end up biting us.  Those things you dread doing, are probably good clues that they’re the more important and fulfilling things to do. 

Some days your 100% looks like other days 25%.  Learn to be okay with that. It’s part of life.  What’s important is just getting it done. Do it to the best of your ability. That will look different day to day, but just get it done!

The work you do when nobody’s watching is what really matters. Because it shows what your constitution is.